Citation Nr: 9835330
Decision Date: 11/30/98 Archive Date: 12/02/98
DOCKET NO. 95-00 131 ) DATE
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On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Jackson,
Mississippi
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to service connection for cause of the veteran’s
death.
REPRESENTATION
Appellant represented by: The American Legion
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
A. P. Simpson, Associate Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The veteran served on active duty from March 1943 to January
1946 and from May 1947 to May 1964. This case comes before
the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the Board) on appeal from a
September 1994 rating decision of the Jackson, Mississippi,
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In
that decision, the RO denied service connection for the cause
of the veteran’s death.
REMAND
In the appellant’s VA Form 9, Appeal to the Board of
Veterans' Appeals, received by the RO in January 1995, she
stated that the veteran suffered from pains and cramps in his
stomach in July 1992 and was taken to a local hospital where
it was thought that the veteran was having a heart attack.
She stated that the appellant was then sent to the VA
hospital in Nashville, Tennessee and that an x-ray there
showed an aneurism of the stomach. An attempt to obtain the
VA medical records has not been made. Also, an attempt to
obtain the medical records from the July 1992 incident should
be made.
Accordingly, the case is hereby REMANDED to the RO for the
following action:
1. The RO should associate with the
claims file the relevant VA treatment
reports from January 1992 until the time
of the veteran’s death, August 1994.
2. The RO should write the appellant a
letter and ask her to submit the July
1992 records she alluded to in her VA
Form 9 where her husband complained of
stomach cramps and pains and it was
thought that he had a heart attack.
3. The appellant is placed on notice
that she has a duty to submit evidence of
a well-grounded claim for service
connection for cause of the veteran’s
death. Such evidence should consist of
competent evidence linking the cause of
death to service or a service-connected
disability. If she has such evidence,
she should submit it.
The case should be returned to the Board after compliance
with all requisite appellate procedures. The appellant is
free to submit additional evidence or argument on remand.
Quarles v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 129, 141 (1992). This
claim must be afforded expeditious treatment by the RO. The
law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board
of Veterans’ Appeals or by the United States Court of
Veterans Appeals for additional development or other
appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner.
See The Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1994, Pub. L.
No. 103-446, § 302, 108 Stat. 4645, 4658 (1994), 38 U.S.C.A.
§ 5101 (West Supp. 1998) (Historical and Statutory Notes).
In addition, VBA’s ADJUDICATION PROCEDURE MANUAL, M21-1, Part
IV,
directs the ROs to provide expeditious handling of all cases
that have been remanded by the Board and the Court. See M21-
1, Part IV, paras. 8.44-8.45 and 38.02-38.03.
H. N. SCHWARTZ
Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals
Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 1991), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States
Court of Veterans Appeals. This remand is in the nature of a
preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the
Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b)
(1997).
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